"Wiał od zachodu z gór i powinien być zimny i nieść mroźny zapach śniegu, ale był ciepły i pachniał ziemią i cedrem z niższych zboczy, i świerkiem z wyższych. Jak skała wyłaniająca się z lodu. Porostami i mchem. Tak mi się wydawało. Pachniał wiosną.

W połowie kwietnia za wcześnie na prawdziwą odwilż, ale podział na pory roku należał raczej do przeszłości. Tej zimy mieliśmy w górach śnieg, ale przez dwa poprzednie lata szczyty były suche, prawie nagie. To przerażało mnie bardziej niż ataki czy choroba."

Peter Heller "Gwiazdozbiór Psa"

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is this weekend. Of course, this is the 3rd or 4th time it has rained this year (our MONSTER El Niño, haha).

We have been planning to go since last year. But I kept a little secret from my 7th grader until this morning. That secret was Stan Lee, at 11am, on the main stage. Free, no tickets required.

And we got there in time to get good standing spots, in spite of the fact that hubby cannot get anywhere on time and dawdles constantly. And the mics worked! We could see and hear!

We did not get an autographed copy of his graphic memoir, just a plain one. We would have had to be truly early--and I am pretty sure that the folks who got their copies signed did not get hear him speak. And he was great. It was an interview format, and he was funny. Kid is happy, that interview made his day. He loves Marvel.

There is a serial killer on the loose...maybe more than one! The number of victims is growing as the New Year approaches. The killings are happening on both sides of the USA and Canadian border, and they are different. It appears one of the serial killers is taking sport in "hunting victims" like prized game. The other serial killer has a different method of operation and the signature is very unique--shrunken heads! It is up to former criminal profiler Dr. Thaddeus Michael Thomas to stop the serial killers before he runs the risk of losing his own head!